In May of 1944, George Walton Lucas Jr. was born, twenty-three years later, he graduated from USC, and a decade after that he changed the world forever by releasing Star Wars. The Star Wars franchise is a phenomenon like no other, and nobody, not even the maker himself, could have predicted its impact.
As the creator of something so ingrained in society, and so crucial to so many people, George Lucas has been interviewed countless times about the franchise. Through all these interviews and special featurettes, documentaries, etc. Lucas has a plethora of quotes about his brainchild that have become famous in the pop culture zeitgeist.
"THESE ARE MY KIDS, ALL THE STAR WARS MOVIES."
In an interview with Charlie Rose, which has become infamous for Lucas' comparison of Disney to "white slavers" (a joking comment that was later fully apologized for), Lucas gave a very loving quote about the franchise he created.
Lucas called the Star Wars movies his children, then saying he was very intimately involved with them. It is evident through quotes like this how much adoration Lucas had for his creation, and he deserves infinite thanks from fans.
"I MAY HAVE GONE TOO FAR, IN A FEW PLACES"
Before The Last Jedi came to be, the prequels were the kings of controversy. After seeing a rough cut of his film in 1999, Lucas said the famous quote to a small screening room "I may have gone too far in a few places."
Ironically, in behind the scenes videos of The Phantom Menace, Lucas talks about how the key to these types of films is not to go too far. This quote shows Lucas' self-awareness and references the disjointedness of the movie.
"I WANTED TO MAKE A STAND FOR SOCIAL, SAFETY, AND QUALITY REASONS. I DIDN'T WANT SOMEONE USING THE NAME STAR WARS ON A PIECE OF JUNK"
In "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The Ultimate Guide To Star Wars" sits this quote that answers the question of why Lucas took the rights to all Star Wars merch.
Lucas said it was not to do with money, but instead because he wanted to be in control of it. It again shows how protective Lucas was about the franchise, and cared about it, not just about how insanely rich it made him.
"FOR STAR WARS I HAD TO DEVELOP A WHOLE NEW IDEA ABOUT SPECIAL EFFECTS TO GIVE IT THE KIND OF KINETIC ENERGY I WAS LOOKING FOR."
George Lucas is not only known and renowned for Star Wars, but also his impact and innovation of technology in cinema. This quote comes from a WIRED interview and shows both Lucas's imagination and ambition.
His ideas surpassed the technological capabilities. So what did he do? He advanced technology. He came up with innovative ways of creating the originals and furthered cinematic technology for the prequels. The man deserves infinite praise.
"STAR WARS ISN'T REALLY A SCIENCE-FICTION FILM, IT'S A FANTASY FILM AND A, UH, SPACE OPERA."
There has been a long-standing debate amongst a lot of fans about the genre of Star Wars. While most are rightfully in agreement, it is a fantasy film/a space opera, some still maintain it is science-fiction.
Lucas has stated many times that, while it has aspects of it, Star Wars is not sci-fi. In an interview at Sundance, Lucas said: "it's a fantasy film and.. a space opera." If Lucas is saying it, the argument gets put to bed.
"NONE OF THE FILMS I'VE DONE WERE DESIGNED FOR A MASS AUDIENCE, EXCEPT FOR INDIANA JONES. NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND THOUGHT AMERICAN GRAFFITI OR STAR WARS WOULD WORK."
It may come as a surprise to younger fans, or late fans, but Star Wars was never really meant to be a success, at least not to the levels it was. Nobody could have nor did predict it.
That includes Lucas himself, and he says as much when he says the only film he made for a mass audience was Indiana Jones. It is pretty insane how colossal Star Wars was and still is, but was never meant to be.
"ONE THING ABOUT STAR WARS I'M REALLY PROUD OF IS THAT IT EXPANDS THE IMAGINATION."
In a 1999 interview with rebound film critic Roger Ebert, Lucas talked a lot about technology and toys. He also gave this phenomenal quote about how Star Wars expands the imagination.
Lucas said the best thing about playing with toys is the imagination and creation of a story. To create a universe like Star Wars takes immense ambition and vision, something Lucas has in spades, and he should be proud of such an achievement.
"STAR WARS WAS MADE UP OF MANY DIFFERENT THEMES. IT'S NOT JUST A SINGLE THEME."
Star Wars can be so many things, whether it be a two-hour escapist ride of popcorn eating fun, or if it is a deep-dive into insane lore and characters. But George Lucas always wanted to portray many messages, and in this interview with Bill Moyers, Lucas says as much.
Lucas talks about how Star Wars shows it is good and bad within everyone, and that the choice is ours where the balance lies. Star Wars has an unbelievable amount of themes, from good vs. evil, love, hope, family, found family, ambition, desire, and countless others, and Lucas says just that here.
"IT'S LIKE POETRY SORT OF, THEY RHYME."
This quote by Lucas is perhaps the most cited quote and most well-known quote of his related to Star Wars. In a behind the scenes look at The Phantom Menace, Lucas provides a plethora of quotes, such as Jar-Jar Binks being the key to the prequels. But the most famous is "It's like poetry sort of, they rhyme."
We see this in Star Wars all the time. Whether it be the Death Star and Starkiller Base, or Rey and Luke's training, or Anakin's destruction of the blockade above Naboo and Luke's trench run, Star Wars mirrors Star Wars a lot, like an echo, and we love it.
"YOU GO TO MAKE A MOVIE AND ALL YOU DO IS GET CRITICIZED, AND PEOPLE TRY TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO BEFORE YOU DO IT."
Talking to Vanity Fair a few years back, Lucas gave a lot of great Star Wars quotes such as "there's more to it than just spaceships." However, there is one pretty heartbreaking standout quote, that being why he does not want to direct another Star Wars movie.
"You go to make a movie, and all you do is get criticized, and people try to make decisions about what you are going to do before you do it." "You know its not much fun, and you can't experiment. You can't do anything. You need to do it a certain way." It is pretty saddening to think that the maker of Star Wars feels this way, and it is indicative of the culture both in Hollywood and in fandoms that have come to be so typical but never should have been. The hindrance of creativity and the inability to please some people is real and is a plague in the industry.